An Invitation
by xHuolon
Summary: Tifa has invited her friend's sister over for dinner, to get to know her better. But what happens when alcohol gets involved? Pre Tifa/Lightning.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**: This story originated from an RP I did with a friend in the RPing group dedicated to Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy/ And Twewy that we belong to. We're sharing this because, frankly, we feel like it makes a very good story; and a lot of time itself went into this as well.

This takes place in an AU (Alternate Universe), on Destiny Islands. Lightning is an ex-soldier who became a teacher after moving to the island. And Tifa has just moved there, after having decided to make a fresh start in a new town, away from Radiant Garden.

This is the start of a series of Lightning Farron/Tifa Lockhart fics. Part 1 starts here.

**Disclaimer**: We do not own any characters, places, or intellectual property of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy VII, or Kingdom Hearts.

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><p>Lightning drove down the very unfamiliar road, looking for the address from the text she had received from her friend earlier. Tifa had invited her over for dinner the day before, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit excited. It had been awhile since she had made a new friend, or even been out to someone elses house for that matter. Lightning couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous though.<p>

She took a quick glance down at her watch, and Sliepnir slowed down a bit. Lightning was running a bit early, but not by much. She looked back up at the house coming up on her left, and figured that this one must be Tifa's house; going on the description the woman had given her.

Lightning pulled up in the drive way, and quickly turned off her motorcycle's engine before propping Sliepnir up. She stuffed her helmet into the side bag, and straightened out her jacket and shirt, before walking over to the front door. Light had to admit that the brunette's house was very nice looking on the outside, but was probably even more so on the inside. She grinned and pushed the doorbell in, and waited at the door for her friend to open the door.

Tifa looked up at the clock and then down at the meat that was sizzling in the pan she had in her hands. The meat was browning nicely, and the only thing left was to add her own special sauce while mixing the meat and the noodles together, and she would be done.

She had asked Lightning over for dinner the day before, and Tifa had made sure everything was looking nice in her apartment that night. The young woman spent her day after work dusting and vacuuming while also wiping down the counters and getting the good china out. She was pretty surprised when she first bought the china a month ago as it was on sale in the marketplace. The brunette assumed she would never use it, especially now that she has this empty apartment. It was lucky that someone was coming over tonight.

The noodles and the vegetables were added, and with just a few minutes left to spare, Tifa knew Lightning would be coming any second. She took a look over the apartment one last time, making sure there were no dead plants around like she found yesterday. Aerith she certainly was _NOT_, there were no green thumbs on her hands.

Tifa heard the door bell ring, and she quickly disrobed the apron to put it to the side. She went to the door and twisted the knob, greeting her guest into her home.

Light turned and waved at Tifa in greeting. "Hey Tifa, I hope I'm right on time... I got a bit lost on the way here, since I've never driven on this part of town."

"Perfect timing actually! The dumplings just finished and the noodles and meat just need to get married." Tifa greeted Lightning warmly, opening the door to let her in.

"Alright, that's no problem at all Tifa, I don't mind waiting a little bit longer to try your food." Lightning said as she walked past her friend, and into her house. She glanced around and noted how clean and tidied up it was. Light hoped Tifa didn't go out of her way to clean up, just for her. It wouldn't have bothered her much, since she came to hang out and not worry about trifling matters such as that. However, what she didn't know was that there was a pile of hair in the vacuum as well as a horrible bag of take out food outside in the dumpster. It had been awhile since Tifa cooked, as she never liked just cooking for herself. Now that a guest was here, her cooking prowess could shine once again. The brunette urged Lightning to have a seat on the couch as she offered up a drink to her guest.

"What would you like tonight? I have rum, vodka, or white wine." Tifa smiled, being a most excellent host.

"Oh. Uhhhhmmm... I think vodka sounds good right now. Thanks Tifa." She said with a smile, while she got comfortable on the sofa. "I hope you didn't go through too much trouble today, preparing for me to come over... But either way your home is lovely on the outside. and even more so on the inside. It's much different that what I'm used to at my own house, believe it or not." Lightning grinned at the brunette, and then laughed a little.

"Oh no, no trouble at all!" Tifa replied as she poured the bottle of vodka in both her and her guest's glasses. She was laughing at herself inwardly, just a _FEW_ dust bunnies swept under the rug and dead bodies in the closet. _Oh god I should really clean like this everyday, it wouldn't be so hard if I just got up and did it every once in awhile_.

Well, what is your home like Lightning?" Tifa called out as she walked into the kitchen to check on dinner. Everything was perfectly ready, and the smell was divine. It has been so long since she made Goulash, it warmed both her heart and her stomach. Lightning was going to love it.

"How many people live with you again?"

"My house has 3 floors... Well 2 floors and a basement, but you know what I mean. All the rooms are occupied except two, though one of them is more of a storage space; while the other is an extra guest room." Lightning explained, while staring down at her half empty glass.

"As for people... There's me, my younger sister Serah, my adopted daughter Namine... And Cloud every now and then. And then we have 3 pets. My wolf/mix Kaminari, Namine's kitten Kai, and then Serah's bunny Trixi. It's a lot of people and animals in one house, but I manage somehow." Lightning said loudly, so her friend could hear her in the kitchen. She couldn't help but wonder if the brunette ever felt lonely being in this house all alone... Would be kind of depressing in her opinion.

Tifa gathered the plates and moved them to the dinner table in the next room, going slow so as not to drop the new china.

"Ah yes… It must be a busy household then. Back when I lived in Radiant Garden, I just had one other person living with me. My daughter's all grown up though haha." Tifa laughed, smiling at the memory of the one she loved so very much.

"Daughter? I never would have guessed you would be the time to have a kid already, Tifa! Do you happen to know where she is now? Or did you lose contact or something like that?" Lightning asked in a highly curious voice. She wasn't trying to be nosy, but having her friend mention having a daughter had made her think of her own beloved Namine. Granted they weren't related by blood, but that would never break the bond they shared together.

Moving the pot containing the now married Goulash, Tifa took some dumplings with her and placed them on the plates, before pouring the sauce and meat and veggies over top. It smelled even more delicious when it all came together, and she sneaked a piece of meat off her plate just to make sure it was good.

_Oh, maybe I should add a bit of salt. Paprika maybe? No, it should be fine. I'm sure she'll like it._

"Dinner is ready! This way to the Dining room!" Tifa called from the corridor on the left, hoping Lightning would be able to find her way by way of voice.

Lightning perked up at the woman calling for her, saying that the food was ready and waiting for them. She pushed herself off the sofa and walked in the direction of Tifa's voice. It took her a few moments, but she made it into the dining room without managing to get lost in the brunette's home.

When she stepped into the room, her stomach growled loudly after her smelling the Goulash her friend had prepared. It smelled simply divine, and she couldn't wait to dig in. Lightning took a seat at the indicated spot of the table, and smiled up at Tifa. "It smells and looks amazing, Tifa. You really went all out on it didn't you?"

"Haha not really, it's just Goulash." Tifa smiled, placing the salt in the middle for them just in case it truly needed some. "But I haven't made dinner for awhile, so I thought I might as well go all out. I wasn't sure what you wanted for a salad, so I just added cucumbers, and on the side of the table is all the dressings I had in the fridge. It's not much, I haven't been having salad lately."

She motioned her arm so Lightning could see where the dressings were, and she grabbed the Ranch for herself to pour onto her salad.

Lightning stared at the bowl of salad that Tifa had made for her, and then looked at the dressings available. She looked back at her friend and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I actually tend to eat my salads plain. Never really got into liking ranch and all that stuff much." The pinkette said with a smile, before sticking her fork into the goulash and taking a bite.

"So... Back to the topic of your daughter, Tifa. You never answered my questions." Lightning said, raising a brow at her friend, as she picked at her salad.

"You want to know about Uzuki? Wow, I guess no one knows about her here huh? She was a hot topic when she showed up at Radiant Garden a few years ago. She looked lost, and I just ended up… taking her in." Tifa motioned for Lightning to start digging in, as she took a bite out of the Goulash herself.

"I think Cloud and a few other people just left, and I was feeling down. Then Uzuki Yashiro just showed up and she just needed me. She had a severe case of amnesia, I had to teach her some of the basic things all over again. But she learned quickly, like she had this absolute thirst to keep going." Tifa smiled at the memory, of teaching Yashiro to cook and having the oven catch on fire. That girl hated cooking.

"She did amazing at school, always working at something. She graduated early too, with top marks. Yashiro never stopped, she always wanted more. Oh, there's water if you want some. It goes down well with some water." Tifa got up and brought a glass pitcher of water to the table, setting it down gently so as not to spill any on Lightning.

"One day, a few months ago, Uzuki just packed her things and said she was ready to move on." Tifa's eyes glazed over a bit recalling the memory. "I asked her to stay, if maybe she just wanted to keep being my daughter for one more year, or even a day. But she just shook her head."

"She told me even if she left she would always consider me her mother. And I was proud to see her grow so much as to say that. She was always sarcastic, and never really said anything concerning our relationship before."

"But before she left, she told me that the only way to get what I want is if I go out and do something about it. Staying in one place means nothing will change. New places teach you something, just like how I taught her things because she cam here. Then, she thanked me, and left." Tifa smiled, and took a big bite of the now simply warm Goulash.

She had listened to Tifa, attentive to every word the brunette spoke. Lightning could tell just how deeply her friend cared for Uzuki, but at the same time felt a little sad that she was living all alone once again. She figured it must be really hard for her now, especially since her adopted daughter probably hadn't made contact with her since that day.

"Oh god, listen to me talking about that girl like an old woman. Must be the vodka doing its work huh?" She laughed while pouring herself a glass of water.

"Don't say that! I thought it was an interesting story to say the least. But I honestly do feel a bit bad about her leaving you all alone, even if you are getting along fine now. I can relate to how it feels to be alone most of the time..." Lightning explained in a soft voice, as she thought about all the times she had been truly alone in her life.


	2. Chapter 2

"Being all alone really is… well It's _LONELY_. Haha. But Uzuki was right. If I stayed in that one place, nothing would change. She was the reason I came here, it was all because of the words she spoke to me that day." Tifa smiled at all the memories they had together.

"And really, when you think about, you're never alone. Even if it feels like the people you care about have abandoned you, they're really only going to do what they think is right for themselves. And isn't that we should all do?" Tifa contemplated these lonely thoughts herself many a time when she was alone at Radiant Garden, wandering the streets by herself.

Lightning cracked a smile at her friend, after taking a few more bites of her food. "Well I do agree with Uzuki there... I had to learn that the hard way myself, about nothing changing if you stay in one place." Her own words made her think of what her life would be like right now, if she and her younger sister had never left Bodhum.

"Searching for yourself. Oh god damn it, that was what Cloud was doing, wasn't he? Haha go figure I only think about this now, when I can see him again huh? I hope he's been treating his sister well." The brunette smiled at Lightning, and took another bite of her own Goulash.

"I suppose that's just one of the many things Cloudy was probably up to... But as I've said before I really have no idea on that subject." Lightning shrugged a little at Tifa, and then switched to eating some of the salad in front of her.

She looked back over at Tifa, while placing her fork in the now empty salad bowl. "Well, I can't say he's never treated me horribly. I know he loves me, and he does enough to show it as well... But like I told you yesterday, the only thing I have a problem with is not knowing him like I should."

"The day Cloud decides to open up about everything, is the day he'll be talking to _EVERYONE_ about _EVERYTHING_ he ever did in his life." Tifa joked, swishing her fork around the plate to get in all the sauce.

"...I don't think I'm ready for that Cloud... Nor do I ever think I'd be able to handle a Cloud that talks to everyone about everything that goes on... I can only imagine the headaches I would get." Lightning said in a joking tone, even though she would probably die inside, if he suddenly became an extrovert out of nowhere.

"But he does seem to be smiling much more. Did I tell you I ran into him today?" Tifa looked up to see Lightning's reaction. "I may have… been a little too emotional with him ha ha."

She raised a brow at Tifa, while a very curious look appeared on her face. "Oh, you ran into Cloudy finally? How did that go? By the sounds of it, it musta been nice hahaha." Lightning said, grinning ear to ear at her friend.

"Oh dear god. It was… a bit embarrassing to say the least." Tifa had her elbows on the table, and she put her head down a bit to try and hide the blush she had forming on her cheeks.

"He's just so… _sigh_. In the end, I guess I was just too caught up in what he was telling me, and I overreacted. Cloud seemed ok with it though. He always acts like he's ok." Tifa sighed. She flipped a piece of her hair over her shoulder, and finished up the little amount of Goulash left on her plate.

Lightning finished the rest of the food she had, before pushing the plate away so she could cross her arms on the table. She then tilted her head at Tifa, and cracked a small smile. "That might have been my fault... He's gotten used to me overreacting over things, so I guess it doesn't bother him as much anymore."

She looked down at the table for a moment, and then returned her gaze to the brunette. "Yeah... He does always act like he's okay, but I've been getting better at knowing when something is very wrong with him. I never expect him to tell me though, even when I have offered on many occasions to listen to him..."

"At least he didn't look scared when he saw me. I really caught him by surprise. All I wanted was another teacher to give me directions to my class, go figure it would be one of my close friends I haven't talked to in over a year." Tifa said, still feeling happy that she had found him, and not some other random teacher that day.

"But it's nice that you got to see and talk to him again. Though why would he have been scared to see you exactly?" Lightning asked, wondering if maybe there was something she didn't know.

"Because I can knock him on conscious with one punch." Tifa said nonchalantly, clearly unsettling Lightning. She laughed, waving her hand to the side. "Oh, I wasn't going to actually do it. But when he left Radiant Garden, I was pretty mad about it. Everyone was just dropping like flies, I felt like the only one being left behind. I never told him that's how I felt, but in a way I just thought he knew me well enough to know I was mad. I guess not." She shrugged, standing up to start cleaning off the table

Lightning stared at Tifa in awe for awhile, before finally speaking up again. "I'm... Surprised you didn't punch him. When I ran into Cloudy after moving here, at first I was so excited to see my older brother again, but then all the anger I had because of him leaving came up and... I decked him in the face pretty hard." She said, while chuckling nervously.

"Your Cloudy is a very dense boy, not contacting me in over a year." Tifa picked up Lightning's plate and put it on top of her own, slowly carrying it to the kitchen. "There was once a time I even thought he might have liked me the same way I liked him. But I knew the second he left the feeling wasn't mutual. Girls seem to take hints better than guys huh?" Tifa laughed, recalling the days she spent with Cloud and Aerith, along with all her dreamy eyed hopes and silly crushes.

"Yeeeaaaah... Cloudy can be pretty dense most of the time." She said while propping up her right elbow on the table, and rested her head in her palm. "I'm sorry to hear that Tifa... And here you'd think he'd see just how amazing you are. His loss I suppose." Lightning said with a small shrug. "But I agree with you on that... Us girls can sense rejection from a mile away." She laughed a little at her statement, even if it was kind of true.

"Definitely. Oh well. At least I get to cook for you guys. I haven't done that in months, and here I am cooking twice in one week!" The brunette laughed, placing the plates in the kitchen and coming back to Lightning.

"I think you should cook more Tifa... You have a lot of potential to be an amazing cook, not that you already aren't in my opinion... But y'know, maybe you should cook with me sometime. It'd be fun! Not to mention I've already had a cooking session with Aerith as well." Lightning said when Tifa came back into the dining room, after having taken their dirty dishes away to the kitchen.

"He's coming over later this week for dinner as well! Go figure I end up cooking for siblings!" She smiled. "Maybe this time I won't get so emotional, especially considering how much more… open he's become. It was obvious to me the second he started talking. I wonder, did you do have anything to do with this change?" Tifa raised her eyebrows, continuing to smile at the sister Cloud had, and in some way always truly needed.

"I'm not really sure if I'm part of the reason or not... It could be that's he's slowly opening up on his own, or maybe it has to do with me telling him about the younger sister he never knew he had. I know he wants to make it up to us really bad..." She said, while looking up at her friend with a small smile gracing her face.

Tifa raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "You know, up until about a day ago, I had no idea Cloud even had a sister. Let alone two. I'm thinking maybe I might need a few more details here." She leaned onto the wall, staring at Lightning.

"I guess it's no surprise you didn't know... I figured Cloud wouldn't tell anyone about me." Lightning said in a voice riddled with a hint of sadness. She really did love her older brother, but sometimes she wondered if he had ever even thought of her once during all those years.

"Just how much have I missed?" She inquired. "But speaking of cooking, I would love to cook with all of you any time you'd like!"

"Well... I don't know. What all did you want to know exactly?" She asked, while pouring herself another glass of vodka. "Oh... Well that's good to hear!" Light quickly added in response to Tifa agreeing about cooking together. "We'll have to plan that out some other time."

"Well," Tifa also poured herself another glass on vodka as well. How many had she had already? "Probably about you and your sister. And about his depression. He told me about that, and that's what made me get a little emotional during school when I first saw him." She laughed quietly, waiting for a response from Lightning. There was still so much she needed to know.

"Well... For starters you need to realize that Cloud left our home when I was 5, and he was 10. He had gotten into a nasty fight with our mother, and decided to leave and never come back. Eventually mom got remarried and a few months after I turned 10, my younger sister Serah was born." Lightning said while staring down into her empty glass.

"As for Cloud... I'm not really sure when his depression hit him. All he told me was that he finally got around to seeing a doctor, and had it confirmed that he had it. For more information on that... I'm not really the person to ask, you see." She said while glancing back up at Tifa, before returning her gaze to her cup; which she ended up refilling once again.

"He told me he sensed he had it all along, that the doctor just confirmed it. I don't know. In the end, I just want him to be safe and happy." Tifa smiled at her cup as swirled the ice around with her finger. "Whether it's with me, or anyone else. I'm sure he'll find happiness." Tifa stared blankly into the glass again, then looking up at Lightning.

Lightning stared at her friend, and couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the girl. She obviously still had strong feelings for her older brother, and yet she didn't even know if Cloudy even liked anyone at the time being.

"Don't tell him this, but there was one time I considered just telling him I love him. Like a silly schoolgirl, I was gonna take him out for a walk. And then he told me what a good friend I was. And I couldn't go through with it." Tifa laughed, realizing she may have been a little tipsy. But she shook her head, still perfectly coherent, and kept going.

"I promise I won't tell him, Tifa. Though to be honest... I think you should have told him anyway. It's better to admit your feelings and then be turned down politely, rather than always wondering what would have actually happened." Lightning paused for a second, as if in thought. "Well... That's what I think anyway."

"Tell him? Oh no no no. One thing I learned that day, and all the days following it, if I had told him and he turned me down, he would be hurting ten times more than I ever would. I'll hurt sure, but he would never forgive himself for hurting a close friend." Tifa laughed quietly to herself. "It's just how Cloud is."

"He obviously cherishes the people who care about him though, and the ones he cares for will always have his trust and his protection. I could tell right away he must trust and care for you. He lets you call him _Cloudy_." Tifa giggled, she laughed the first time she heard Lightning say it.

She had to laugh at Tifa's comment about being able to call him Cloudy. "Y'know, he actually didn't like it at first... But I randomly called him that one day, and now it's my nickname for him." Lightning said with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, I know he must have not liked it the first time it happened. But I just know he wasn't gonna turn down his sister. Now it's just habit right?" Tifa laughed at the previous remark Lightning made.

"Hey, how about we go outside? I actually have a balcony outside my room. It has the most perfect view of the stars." The brunette said, while pointing towards the stairs that went to the 2nd floor of her home.


	3. Chapter 3

Lightning sigh inwardly, slightly relieved at the sudden change of topic; and pushed herself out of the chair, and waited for the brunette to show her the way.

Tifa smiled at her friend, then led the way upstairs to the last door on the right, inside being a newly made bed with a suitcase still on the side. The giant window next to the bed, revealed the night sky.

The pinkette quickly followed closely after the brunette, into the last room in the hallway. "Well this is a nice room..." She said, while inspecting the room, taking note of how empty it seemed to be. There wasn't much to it yet, so she assumed Tifa was still in the process of getting all her stuff sorted out.

Lightning moved over towards the window and peered outside at the darkened sky. "Y'know it's kind of funny... I have a balcony at my house, but I've never actually used it." She said, while shaking her head. The pinkette had planned on using it sooner or later, but hadn't gotten around to it because of having Serah and Namine recently moving in. "To be completely honest with you Tifa, I even forgot I even had one to begin with."

Tifa opened the window to find a cool breeze coming into the house. She leaned forward and stepped outside, holding out her hand for Lightning, despite the fact that she knew Lightning didn't need it.

Lightning stepped back when Tifa pushed the window open, and then blinked when the hand was offered to her. The pinkette hesitated a moment, but ended up taking Tifa's hand in her own; and let herself get pulled outside onto the balcony by her friend. The two women stepped outside, and noticed how gorgeous a night out it really was. Every star could be seen in the sky, and the moon shined down, giving light to the darkness.

"Really? This balcony is the reason I chose this place." Tifa twirled around enthusiastically, looking up to the stars. "These stars are so beautiful. After I finish dinner, I always just sit here and stare at them." She looked towards Lightning and laughed. "Sometimes it's nice to sit down in a quiet place and think about things. Or even appreciate something thought of as simple, like the stars. Or flowers. Aerith taught me that."

The pinkette glanced up at the stars, and had to admit that it really was an amazing view from there. Lightning dropped her gaze back onto the brunette, her aqua eyes never looking away from her face as she spoke. For some reason or another she couldn't make herself look away; the way the moonlight hit Tifa... It made her look absolutely stunning. _Wait, what?_ The pinkette shook her head, and mentally kicked herself. What the hell was she thinking? Light had been so lost in thought, she had missed most of what her friend had said.

"Uh, yeah. It is rather nice to sit down in a silent place... I do it all the time when I play my guitar back home. It makes me feel at peace, even if for a short while." She said, after having regained her composure.

"Oh wow you play guitar?" The brunette smiled, her eyes glistening at the word "_guitar_", and she moved closer.

Lightning grinned proudly at Tifa, because she was more than confident in her abilities on the guitar. "I've been playing for a few years now, and have my own acoustic and electric guitar. And I don't see why not, I think it would be nice to play for someone for a change.." She said, meaning ever word she spoke. The pinkette had never really played for anyone other than herself, but with Tifa... She felt more than comfortable enough around her to do so.

"That sounds amazing! I've always wanted to play an instrument, but I just never had the patience for it. For some reason, I can wait all day for a child to learn their abc's, but with the strings of a guitar it was like I was never going to get it. Think you could play it for me sometime?" Tifa laughed as she leaned into Lightning. They eventually sat down, as the chat began to die down.

Lightning flashed a grin at the brunette, as she ended up looking towards the sky once again.

Tifa leaned more into Lightning, beginning to feel a bit tired. The alcohol was beginning to take it's toll. It was the only thing that could actually get her so drowsy, usually anyway. She laid her head on Lightning's shoulder and sighed in a happy tone; as she turned her gaze back towards the stars.

The pinkette found her eyes wandering through the night sky, wondering which one was her home that she had long since left; and as her mind wandered, she felt Tifa cuddle into her side and rest her head on her own shoulder. Usually she would never left anyone get this way with her, especially when she wasn't even drunk. But she didn't have the heart to make the woman move, in fact she found she rather enjoyed the closeness; but why she couldn't honestly say. It was probably the booze, she thought.

"Mmmm it is so warm, even at night. I love this island, I'm so glad I came here." Tifa nuzzled her cheek on Lightning's, while laughing gently. She had such a wonderful time with the woman, and felt completely comfortable around her, talking about anything and everything. It was amazing that she had only met the girl a short while ago, yet there they were staring up at the stars on her balcony. It almost felt like _Destiny_.

"Yeah... I love being on this island too. I don't regret movi-" Her train of thought was completely shattered the second Tifa's cheek touched hers. Why did she all of a sudden feel all tense and nervous around this woman? Lightning didn't know what was going on, but her body was moving on autopilot despite the protests her brain was sending. Her hand raised it self up, almost like it had a mind of it's own; and found it's way onto Tifa's exposed cheek, before gently repositioning the brunette's head to where they were looking each other in the eyes. The next thing she knew her hand had tilted the woman's head slightly, and she was leaning in close to her. A soft kiss was pressed against the brunette's lips a moment later.

Tifa made a little gasping noise as she felt warm lips press against her own. They were soft, and tasted a bit like... Cherries? Her gaze was barely able to make out anything, and eventually Tifa just closed her eyes and felt the sensation in it's entirety. Slowly, the brunette felt their lips part, and opened her eyes to stare at Lightning.

At this point Lightning's thoughts had finally broke through. She had just kissed _Tifa_... She _kissed_ Tifa! She felt her face go a deep shade of red, as she turned away quickly; afraid to look her friend in the eyes after that. "...I-I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me..." The pinkette tried to explain her actions, but it was extremely hard to finds the right words in her current flustered state of being

Tifa smiled in a bubbly manner, and leaned in closer once again to the pinkette. "Now, what are you apologizing for?" She contemplated out loud, looking straight into Lightning's eyes, noticing the pink-haired woman's face to be completely flushed, especially in the cheeks. Yet she could not look away from her, she was just too cute to handle. The brunette couldn't help but be a bit playful. And to be honest, it wasn't really the alcohol doing much except making her a bit more bold in what she truly wanted to do all along. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. How rude of me to allow my guest to become so cold out here at night. You must be chilly." Tifa wrapped her arms around the woman's neck, coming in dangerously closer than before.

Lightning got even more nervous when Tifa leaned towards her again, while staring her dead in the eyes. She heard the brunette speak, but her brain couldn't register the words she was saying. The pinkette was utterly lost in the woman's beautiful eyes, and for someone to catch her attention in such a way was no easy feat to be sure. Her heart practically leapt in her throat a few seconds later, when she felt Tifa's arms settle around her neck; and was now face to face with the brunette once again.

"Tif... I-I..." The pinkette sat there, unable to form a coherent sentence, while she could feel Tifa's warm breath on her ear and neck. A cold shiver ran up Lightning's spine, and it wasn't because of how cold it was outside; no no, it was being this close to the woman in general, that was causing all these weird feelings to surface.

The brunette moved her lips close to Lightning's ear, and whispered softly. "I hear holding each others body, might warm you up a bit.." And she slowly tilted her head, just so their noses almost touched. "A good host must not let their guest be cold. And I am nothing short of an _excellent_ host."

Light heard the woman speak, but this time she strained her ears to catch what she was saying. Something about holding each other...? The pinkette didn't have much time to ponder what she had meant, because Tifa had pressed her lips into her own.

Her mind blanked. The brunette lips were almost too much for her to handle. They were amazingly sweet and simply addicting. The brunette pressed her body against the soldier, and the soft feeling of their lips intertwined flowed so beautifully, it was like silk wrapping around her heart.

Lightning couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face, as she instinctively wrapped her arms around Tifa's waist; pulling her even closer to deepen their kiss.

The feeling of her touch, as the pinkette placed her arms around Tifa's waist made her whole body tingle. The two fell back onto the floor of the balcony, as they began to melt into each other. Quiet pants could be heard from both girls, as they wrestled with their mouths and tongues for dominance. During this, neither of them had any plans of letting go.

Suddenly, a blast of rock music sounded in Tifa's pocket, and she yelped from the abrupt noise transition from quiet to loud. Flustered, she fumbled with her pocket as she pulled out her phone. Her heart beat quickened from a thousand beats per second to a million because the ringer scared her so much.

"_O-oh_!" Tifa gasped, and quickly opened the phone up to answer. "Hel… hello?" A few too many seconds passed, as she had tried to get her phone out, and she bit her lip worrying that she might have hung up.

The second Lightning heard the cellphone go off, she froze and watched Tifa pull it out of her pocket before answering it. This was the most awkwardest thing the pinkette had ever had to endure in a long time, and a big part of her now wanted nothing more than to flee from the house and go home; she still couldn't move however, due to the brunette straddling her as she spoke to whoever it was on the phone.

"Yes. I... Are you safe? Where are you?" The brunette suddenly realized how loud her voice was, and attempted to calm down by breathing in deeply. Tifa's eyes were to the floor, but they were glistening in hope as she heard the voice at the other end.

She looked up at Light and whispered, "I'm sorry, but it's her. She finally called." Tifa smiled, looking down again, so as not to show she was tearing up slightly. She pushed herself off of the pinkette, stood up and went to the side of the balcony; touching her lips as she listened to the phone. They were still wet, and very warm.

Every second that passed like that, just made Lightning more and more uncomfortable; until finally Tifa said something and got off of her, and moved over to lean on the side of the balcony. _Her_? Oh... She figured the brunette was talking about her adopted daughter. And by the looks of it, whatever she was calling for was a serious matter. What a perfect way to just make things even worse for her.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, and rubbed the back of her head. Tifa at this point seemed occupied with being on the phone, and didn't seem like she was going to get off any time soon. Lightning sighed quietly and quickly stood up, taking a moment to dust herself off. "Uhm... I.. I think I'm gonna go..." She said in a low voice, before turning around and walking back into the house, to go grab her coat and boots from downstairs, as fast as she could.

The phone call ended abruptly as Tifa struggled with Yashiro to tell her where she was. The young girl was being short with her, bickering with her as though she were her real mother. It may be considered twisted, but to Tifa it felt good to hear the girl complaining to her to "_Simply stop it with all the questions, what are you my boss?_" and without realizing it, she had managed to maneuver around the teenager's quick witted remarks and somehow persuade her into calling again tomorrow. The warmth in her heart as the call ended was real, and she sighed in relief to know her daughter was safe.

As the phone clicked off, Tifa quickly left the balcony, and ran through her room. She was no fool, noticing Lightning attempt to leave the second the phone call began. Her daughter was important, but leaving things like this would make it appear as though Tifa was just drunk, and that the whole thing was an accident. And it anything _but_ that.

By the time Lightning had gotten to the bottom of the stairs, her whole body was trembling at the thought of everything that had just occurred. What the _hell_ was wrong with her? It was one thing to make out with someone when drunk... But wasn't it worse if that person loved your very own older brother? Just the realization of that made her stomach churn. She sighed and picked up her belongings, before walking over to the front door. But before she could open it, she noticed the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Poor Lightning look terrified to Tifa as she gingerly went down the steps. The pink-haired woman had her hand on the door knob, shoes and coat already on. _Man can she book it, or what?_

"Hey, sorry about that." Tifa said quietly, while she considered walking up closer to Lightning; but the woman's eyes already looked like they were about to fall out of her head. So she thought it best not to try, so she stood at the end of the staircase; and folded out her hands behind her, intertwining the fingers together.

"I suppose it is getting pretty late. If you want to go that's fine, but at least take the cake with you." The brunette held out her hands in a "_wait here_" gesture, and went into the kitchen, coming back out with Tupperware containing a red velvet cake covered in white frosting. The designs on top were of flowers and stars, swirling around together. Tifa handed the cake to Lightning, hoping the pink-haired woman wouldn't refuse what she spent hours baking on earlier.

Lightning stared at the container the brunette was offering her, honestly not sure how she should feel about the gesture. She carefully took the cake from Tifa however, and kept her eyes locked onto the tubberware; afraid of what might happen if she even dared to look the woman in the eyes again. "Uh...T-Thanks..." The pinkette mumbled quietly, not sure what else to really say at this point. Light took a few steps back towards the door, and looked up at Tifa for a split second. "I'll uh... Bring this back sometime... Thanks again for the c-cake.." She said quickly as if the words wouldn't leave her mouth fast enough.

Her hand reached for the door knob, and she felt relieved when Tifa didn't try to stop her this time. Lightning opened the door and sped out of the house towards her motorcycle, not even sparing a glance back at the front door where the brunette was standing and watching her. She hopped onto Sliepnir, making sure to place the cake securely in her lap; before starting the engine up and pulling out of Tifa's driveway.

As she drove away, the pinkette couldn't help but feel kind of guilty... She _had_ been the one to kiss Tifa first, but she wouldn't have expected one tiny kiss to lead to all _that_.


End file.
